Consulting the experts

Resources Global Professionals works outside existing models to provide high-quality, cost-effective services, writes Ciara O'Brien

In business, the value of experience can never be underestimated. And one firm is hoping to trade on that ideology in Ireland, providing a range of skilled professionals to work with clients on a project basis in the financial and corporate sectors.

Originally founded in 1996 as part of Deloitte & Touche in the US, Resources Global Professionals is a relatively new proposition in the Irish market. The company is currently recruiting experienced professionals to work with them as associates who will provide expertise and knowledge to clients as and when it is needed.

The concept is one that doesn't quite fit into the more traditional roles that businesses have formed over recent years.

Joe Quinn, managing director of the Irish branch of the firm, says it is unique in Ireland. "The idea is to offer large and multinational clients professional services outside the existing consultancy model, the Big Four. It allows them to bring in experience on a project basis," he said.

"The client controls the spend and direction of the project. Effectively, it is an extension of the client for the duration of the project."

There are key benefits for both the companies that work with Resources Global Professionals and those who work for them.

From the company's point of view, businesses get high-quality yet cost-effective access to the expertise of trained professionals, who quite often have already worked with the Big Four firms and multinationals.

They retain control over the project, with the associates acting as an extension of the company, rather than a third-party firm, and because the projects are billed on an hourly basis, clients can keep a tight control on costs, which is an increasingly attractive proposition.

From the associates' point of view, consultants who work with the firm get flexibility, the chance to work with some of the Fortune 100 companies and the ability to branch out into new sectors that previously they may never have considered.

"Typically, people have an average of 18 years' work experience, and a combination of Big Four background, large corporate experience and/or consulting experience," says Quinn.

"We act as an extension of our client's organisation to give them the control and capacity to execute change projects. We're providing people with a lot of experience."

The company primarily works within the financial and accounting sector, but also provides services in the information management, human capital, information management, internal audit, legal services and supply chain management.

"We're trading on our Big Four heritage," said Quinn.

He says that associated and professionals who work with Resources Global Professionals gain the freedom to manage their career, and get that all-important work life balance.

Associates can take up projects that suit their schedule, both professional and personal, and can choose to work with firms ranging in size from large multinationals to small businesses.

It also means that people are able to avoid office politics to a certain degree.

"Because they work on a project basis, they are more detached from corporate politics," says Quinn.

In the time it has been in operation, the business has already found its foothold. "There is a lot of demand from clients looking for a cost-effective alternative to the Big Four consultants," says Quinn.

Globally, the figures are certainly impressive. More than 80 of the Fortune 100 and some 380 of the Fortune 500 companies have taken up Resources Global Professionals' services. The firm has 84 practice offices and more than 2,200 clients around the world, working with in excess of 4,200 professionals worldwide.